George Bennett (naturalist)

George Bennett FRCS FLS FZS (31 January 1804 – 29 September 1893) was an English-born Australian physician and naturalist, winner of the Clarke Medal in 1890.

Early life

Bennett was born at Plymouth, England. On leaving school at 15 years of age he visited Ceylon and on his return studied for the medical profession, initially at Plymouth, later at the Middlesex Hospital and the Hunterian School of Medicine. He obtained the degree of M.R.C.S. on 7 March 1828, and later became F.R.C.S.

Career

In 1833, Bennett lent support in absentia to the founding of what became the Royal Entomological Society of London. Bennett was awarded the honorary gold medal of the Royal College of Surgeons in recognition of his contributions to zoological science.

Elau and the gibbon

In addition to the nautilus, Bennett took a Sumatran gibbon specimen to England as well as a young Erromangan girl named Elau, who was the first person from the New Hebrides to visit Europe. All died swiftly, with Elau surviving 4 years until the age of 10 before dying of tuberculosis. Bennett had Elau and the ape dissected. His method of acquisition of Elau is unclear, but his intentions were to 'civilise' her in an effort to investigate the nature of 'goodness' and investigate his and his peers' theories that were based in scientific racism.

Late life and legacy

Bennett was 84 years of age when he contributed the chapter on "Mammals" to the Handbook of Sydney. Bennett died in Sydney on 29 September 1893.

Bennett is commemorated in the scientific names of the dwarf cassowary (Casuarius bennettii), Bennett's tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus bennettianus), Bennett's two-pored dragon (Diporiphora bennettii), and Bennett's water snake (Myrrophis bennetti).

He left a large library of books on Australiana that was purchased by William Dymock.

Family

Bennett married three times: on 28 November 1835 to Julia Anne Ludovina Cameron (c. 1820 – 15 June 1846), daughter of Charles Cameron and step-daughter of John Finnis. She took her own life by taking prussic acid. They had two sons and three daughters. He married Charlotte James Elliott (c. 1817 – 20 February 1853) on 10 December 1846; they had one son. He married Sarah Jane Adcock on 4 January 1854; their two children died as infants.

Works authored

• Bennett, George (1834). 2016-03-25 at the Wayback Machine London: Richard Bentley, University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives, China Through Western Eyes
• Bennett, George (1834). 2016-08-26 at the Wayback Machine London: Richard Bentley, University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives, China Through Western Eyes
• Acclimatisation: its eminent adaptation to Australia (1 ed.). Melbourne: Acclimatisation Society of Victoria. 1862.

External links

• Works by or about George Bennett at Wikisource
• Media related to George Bennett at Wikimedia Commons
• Data related to George Bennett at Wikispecies
• at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• , State Library of Queensland- includes digitised letters written by Bennett to the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales